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Gourmet Bird Food Balls

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b101-gourmet-bird-food-balls

The birds will love visiting the feeders when you attach these irresistible gourmet bird food balls, affectionately referred to as fat balls. Loaded with high fat and flavor, this easy throw-together treat will have the birds literally flocking to your yard.
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This high-fat recipe contains bacon grease which is a readily accepted source of fat. It tends to draw in starlings, bluebirds, jays, woodpeckers, Carolina wrens and more.

Bird Treat Ingredients, What Each one Attracts

Suet (rendered from beef fat)
Woodpeckers, wrens, warblers, tanagers, nuthatch, creepers, chickadees, orioles, titmice, mockingbirds, cardinals, goldfinches, bluebirds, grosbeaks, buntings
Peanuts and peanut butter
Towhees, goldfinches, cardinals, chickadees, wrens, sparrows, titmice, grosbeaks, buntings, juncos
Berries
Waxwings, robins, bluebirds, thrushes
Raisins and currants
Waxwings, orioles, robins, bluebirds, thrushes
Nuts
Creepers, towhees, juncos, thrashes, mockingbirds, warblers, woodpeckers
Apples
Waxwings, mockingbirds, thrashers, wrens, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings
Fruit
Tanagers, orioles, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, thrashers, warblers, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, goldfinches, finches

To put out a number of fat balls at once, use a fat ball feeder. This helps prevent accidental entanglements in netting or with hanging wires.
fat ball feeder

See it on Amazon

b101-gourmet-bird-food-balls

Gourmet Bird Food Balls

You’ll Need
2 pounds ground suet, melted
2 cup peanut butter (avoid sugar-free brands)
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 c bacon grease
2 c. regular oatmeal
1 cup cornmeal
Birdfeed with sunflower seeds

Blend melted suet, peanut butter, molasses, bacon grease, oatmeal, and cornmeal. Add enough seeds until the mixture can be rolled into balls. Roll into 3-5  inch balls and coat with bird feed while warm. Chill. Place outside on feeders.

b101-gourmet-bird-food-balls

Gift Giving Idea:

To Use as a gift, Tie a piece of jute to make a large hanger & create a ball around the yarn/jute, leaving enough to hang the ball. Wrap in saran wrap/plastic wrap & attach a gift tag.

Gourmet Bird Food Balls

 

Melissa 'Liss' Burnell, Founder of Budget101

👩‍🍳 About the Author

Melissa “Liss” Burnell is the founder of Budget101.com, a trusted frugal living resource online since 2001. With over 25 years of hands-on experience in meal planning, debt reduction, and DIY homemaking, she’s helped millions of families live well for less.

A mother of two, Liss first made waves by cutting her family’s grocery bill to under $200/month—then teaching others how to do the same. She is the author of two bestselling ebooks on feeding a family on a tight budget, available on Amazon.

📚 Learn more on the About page, or connect with Liss on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook.

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